Look Better,
Feel Better
To introduce this month’s fall style
issue, I offer you a pair of stories. A friend of mine got
married recently, and he spent some money on an offthe-rack suit for the wedding. More money than he
was comfortable with. It looked good on him, though,
and the wedding went off swimmingly.

that whole devil-may-care millionaire
playboy look. It works for him. People
take notice. Despite my objections to
benefiting from the aesthetics of the
undone tie, without actually ever
having tied it (tying a bow tie isn’t that
hard), I have to admit this is a pretty
genius move. And while it is,
technically, cheating, the end result is
the same: feeling good as a result of
looking good.
It’s a simple equation, and all it
requires is a suit that fits and, perhaps,
a bit of ingenuity. If you haven’t felt
this yet, you just haven’t met the right
suit. But when it happens, you will
definitely know.
Also in this issue: Sports
This issue marks the launch of Sharp’s
first recurring sports column, which
even a sports-illiterate like myself can
admit is long overdue. Nicholas
Hune-Brown, who joins Sharp’s
growing roster of award-winning
Canadian writers, begins by
explaining the origins of his obsession
with watching highly paid men run
around chasing things for personal
gain and municipal glory. Sports, as
Hune-Brown notes, is the universal
language of men—a great leveller
across the divides of class, creed and
geography. If you can talk sports, you
can find common ground with just
about any man anywhere, and that’s a
beautiful thing indeed.

This was not entirely due to the suit,
but I don’t want to underplay its
importance, either—which brings me
to my first story: one morning after the
wedding, he puts on the suit and
begins his commute to work. He
notices something different
immediately. People are looking at
him in a way they haven’t before.
They’re admiring. Men and women.
He can feel it. And he likes it. A lot. So
he gets on his train, and even though
he made me promise I wouldn’t tell
anyone about this, here’s what he does
next: he walks all the way down that
train from one end to the other. (Well,
maybe “struts” is the better word.)
Just enjoying the feeling of looking
damn good in a suit. Good enough that
people stop and stare. Because you
can’t truly appreciate the power of
clothes—particularly a suit—until
you’ve experienced strangers on a
train, looking up from their Kindles,
splashed across their faces as clear as
day the words: Damn. Nice suit. This is
a feeling that every man should have,
the sooner in life the better.
The second story: I have another
friend who wears a tuxedo at every
opportunity. He inherited the tux in
question from his father and, with
some minor alterations, it fits him
perfectly. When he attends a black-tie
event, he’ll bring two bow ties. One, a
clip-on, to wear with the penguin suit,
the other in his pocket, an identical
tie-it-yourself bow (which he is unable
to tie) for later in the evening. When
the lights dim and the top buttons
come undone he’ll discreetly swap out
the pre-tied tie for the real one, which
he slings loosely under his collar for

Contents
SEPTEMBER 2013 | VOL.6 | ISSUE 4

FEATURES

The FALL STYLE Report

94

110

As Clooney, Pitt and their generation
enter their 50s, the time has come
for a new class of leading men to take
their place. We nominate this young
Australian as class president.

Key fall looks from Zegna,
Prada, BOSS and more.

Chris Hemsworth

Test Drive

120

Modern Classics
Seven casual wardrobe staples
from the 21st century.

100

Meghan Markle

128

Suits’ sexy (and smart!) star is a
modern woman can do whatever
she wants, dammit.

A self-parking, lumbar massaging,
V8-packing technological marvel on
wheels. We run Mercedes-Benz’s
revolutionary new S-Class through
its paces.

26 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

HUGO BOSS CANADA INC. Phone +1 905 739 2677 www.hugoboss.com

Contents
SEPTEMBER 2013 | VOL.6 | ISSUE 4

GUIDE
44

62

88

The key to looking good in a fedora is
acquiring this one.

Islay is the home of some of the
world’s finest—and peatiest—whiskies,
but that’s not all it has to offer.

Add some colour to your wrist
with the new generation of blueinfused watches.

64

90

After Islay you’ll be in the market for
some smoky whisky. Here are three.

Our intrepid columnist jumps off a
building and faces his biggest fear.
Which, surprisingly, isn’t heights.

Travel

45

A Man Worth Listening To
Jason Priestley is a survivor. He also
judges a mean doughnut.

48

Watches

Booze

Fatherhood

66

A Welcome Introduction
Kate Miner and her husband are always
waking the neighbours. With their music.

50
TV

With Tony Soprano long gone, and
Walter White’s demise imminent,
who will carry on TV’s golden age?

51

film
Joseph Gordon-Levitt chooses
between porn and Scarlett Johansson
in his directorial debut, Don Jon.

54

92

Design
An Olympic fencer-turned industrial
designer who will make you care
about lighting design.

67

Craig Davidson’s Cataract City takes
a hard look at a hard city. Also: the
return of The Shining,

56

In his first column, Nicholas HuneBrown gets to the bottom of his
irrational love of all sporting events.

Automobiles
We take BMW’s raucous (and
surprisingly friendly) M6 Gran
Coupe for a spin around the
Nürburgring. Plus: the Porsche
911’s 50th anniversary and an Aston
Martin for the family in a hurry.

75

Style

Books

Sports

Fall suits and an insider’s look
at the most important event in
men’s fashion.

John
mulanEy

pg. 128

86

Grooming

Tech
From Vancouver to London, techsavvy hotels for the wired traveler.

Your hair is the single most important
part of your face. Here are the best
looks and products.

58

Food
An ode to the humble pomelo, the
citrus fruit of the moment. Plus,
Michael Pollan on why cooking at
home will save us all.

24

Editor’s Letter

STANDARDS
30

Letters

28 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

35

the Man About Town

136

Brand directory

138

BE HERE NOW

P h o t o : M at t D o y l e

The First Thing

SHARP | MAN ABOUT TOWN

Montreal’s elite geared up for the
Formula 1 Grand Prix with an elegant garden party
at the newly reopened Ritz-Carlton on June 7. The
party was thrown in collaboration with McLaren and
Formula Tours, and offered guests a chance to enjoy Champagne from Moët & Chandon, cognac at the Sharp Magazine
Gentlemen’s Cognac Bar, an exclusive Holt Renfrew fashion
show and live music from NYC’s DJ Brendan Fallis, Bete &
Stef bossa nova band and pianist Katryna Marcogliese.
36 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

p h o t o s : YANI C K D é ry

McLaren and
Sharp Celebrate
Montreal F1

GUIDE | Books

Under the
Shadow of
the Falls

Craig Davidson’s Cataract City is a
tough, honest read.
BY GREG HUDSON

>

Niagara Falls might as well be Canada’s gaudy monument
to the incongruity of Nature and Capitalism. Move away
from the actual Falls, and you run into Clifton Hill—a bright
Las Vegas-like strip of wax museums and overpriced restaurants, hustling for all the money families came to the city to
spend. But, you move away from that, a little further in any
direction, and you quickly meet the Real Niagara Falls.
And, frankly, it’s not too pretty either. A town built and
sustained—such as it is—by tourism and service isn’t a town

with a lot of money or opportunity. It’s that
Niagara Falls that figures so heavily in Craig
Davidson’s bleak yet redemptive new novel,
Cataract City.
It’s the story of two friends in Niagara
Falls who taste glory, stumble and wind up
on opposite sides of the law. Mostly, though,
they survive. It’s painful and sad, but the
book, along with the central characters,
never gives in to that pain or sadness. In that sense, it’s uplifting, if
only barely.
But that’s exactly as it should
be, isn’t it? Life isn’t about the
grand victory—not in Niagara
Falls, not anywhere. At least,
that’s what Craig Davidson seems
to be saying.
“I’ve always found losing stories
mean more to me; I’m drawn
to that,” he says over cider at a
basement bar in Toronto. “I’m not
interested in someone who’s always
good. You do the very best you can,
you take the gifts you’ve been given,
and you push them. There’s a ceiling you’ll ram into, but you won’t realize it until you ram into it.”
Davidson knows about failure and, thankfully, it’s toooften-absent companion, redemption. He talks freely about
his second novel, The Fighter, being a disappointment. “I was
under the impression that after I sold my first book, and my
second book was on track, that I’d be a writer for 30 years. It
was probably hubris mixed with naïveté.” Instead, the book
was a disaster, he says. “It took a lot to get back on my feet
and re-establish my work ethic.”
It was under the shadow of that disaster, working for a
newspaper in Fredericton, that Davidson started writing
what he thought would be four separate novellas set in the
place he spent his formative years (well, he actually spent
them in St. Catharines, but the cities might as well be twins).
“I was under a dark cloud, when the book started, so I went
back to a happy time in my life, which was when I was a kid.
Good or bad, I felt it was something honest.”
And it is honest. Which is all you need, from a book, from
life, in Niagara Falls or anywhere.

Shine On, Danny
You know how The Shining ends with little Danny Torrence escaping the Overlook Hotel and the
mad clutches of his father with his mother and, if you’re talking about the book—30-year Spoiler
Alert—Scatman Crothers (although, ha, yes, he wasn’t Scatman in the book). But, like an impulse
buyer in line at a grocery store, you want to know Where they are now.
Well, aren’t you in luck! Doctor Sleep, one of the biggest books of the fall, sees Stephen King
catching up with little Danny, although he isn’t so little anymore. While literary sequels aren’t usually a great idea—unless they’re part of a preconceived series—we’re okay with this one. It’s less a
sequel as it is a new novel with a familiar character.
But, let’s leave it at this one, alright? No need for an Under the Dome 2, Been There Dome That.
Okay? Okay. – GH

54 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

GUIDE | Tech
LA DOLCE VITA

love

The TechSavvy
Traveler

Hotels for the plugged-in set
By Monical Pilwal

Among the modern road-warrior’s greatest
enemies (aside from jetlag, lost luggage and existential evenings
spent alone at sushi bars) are spotty Wi-Fi, lack of power outlets
and (horror of horrors!) forgetting one’s laptop adapter. But
there’s a new breed of hotels created with the tech-savvy
traveler in mind. They boast every amenity any serious business voyageur could imagine, and even one’s they can’t.

Eccleston
Square Hotel

London (photos)

Located in posh Westminster, adjacent to Belgravia and steps away from
London’s main commuter
hub, this boutique hotel
was launched in 2011 with
the technophile business
traveler in mind. The main
floor features a conference
room with an eye-popping
103-inch 3D TV, which can
be used for video conferencing, presentations or
just watching Pacific Rim
again. Inside each room are
proximity-sensing control

panels to adjust everything
from lights, temperature and
music to the curtains covering the massive windows.
Rooms are all equipped
with a large flat-screen, 3D
TV (3D Blu-ray discs and
3D glasses are available on
request) and an iPad, from
which guests can order
room service, book transportation and communicate
with the hotel’s full-time
valet. Of course, UK, US and
EU outlets are standard in
every room, as are interfaces
to connect your laptop to the
TV and your iPhone to the
in-room sound system. And,

because none of this matters
if you don’t get some shuteye, fully adjustable, massaging beds from Hästens,
Swedish makers of the
world’s finest mattresses,
will assure quality rest. It’s
the type of place that makes
the jetlag seem not so bad.
ecclestonsquarehotel.com

Kube

Paris

Under the veil of a 19thcentury building awaits
an ultra-modern hotel
seemingly plucked straight
out of a sci-fi film. Because
keys and key cards are
passé (not to mention
easily misplaced), your
fingerprint will unlock the
door to your room. Once
inside, you’ll be welcomed
with a bed that seems to
float on a gently glowing
base, flat-screen TVs and a
PlayStation 3 for “the kids.”
What’s not to love*?
kubehotel.com

OPUS

Vancouver

Here, deluxe rooms are
equipped with Samsung Galaxy 3 Phones and free Wi-Fi
for your surfing pleasure.
A complimentary iPad is
available with a press reader,
giving you access to over
2,300 newspapers in over
50 languages. There’s also
a business centre that provides cutting-edge computers, a Telus Optik-equipped
television in every room and
a complimentary luxury car
service.
vancouver.opushotel.com

Omer Arbel is undeniably sophisticated: a champion-fencer-turned-architect
who runs Bocci, one of the premier industrial lighting design firms around (yes, you need
to care about lighting design firms. His has been featured everywhere from Dwell to The
New York Times). His Avatar-esque light fixtures—surreally coloured, beguilingly shaped
and somehow bursting with ferns and succulents—are particularly covetable. While you’re
figuring out how to incorporate his unique style into your space, we’ll let the Israel-born
Vancouverite talk.
Your designs aren’t like
anything else out there.
What inspires them?
I find inspiration in the way
materials behave, and the
ways I have at my disposal to
manipulate them. Each one
of my 28 Series lights, for
example, is subtly different
in form and has a handicraft
flavour because I used a new
method in which the glass
is cooled midway through
the heating process.

As an architect, what are
your favourite types of
spaces to create?
I am interested in spaces
that have a measure of the
irrational or the sublime.
I think modernism was
obsessed with cleanliness,
lightness and order. For me,
there is tremendous potential in weight, awkwardness
and complexity.

66 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

You were born in Israel,
have worked in Barcelona
and maintain an office
in Berlin. Why settle in
Vancouver?
My parents emigrated from
Israel to Vancouver when I
was a boy. I chose to come
back to Vancouver because I
find it a strange hybrid city
in many respects (culturally,
economically, ecologically,
historically), and, as such,
it is ripe with potential.

Innovation, after all, always
comes from the periphery.
You used to fence competitively. Has the sport influenced your aesthetic?
No. But I designed the
medals for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. It’s interesting because I almost made
it to the Olympics as a fencer.
I never dreamed that I would
be involved in the games as a
designer 10 years later.

The 24 Hours NÜrburgring
is the last lawless motor race. I know,
because at the race a couple years ago
I staggered out of the forest in the wee
hours of the morning, covered in mud, not
remembering much of anything. Later that
day, I nearly got run over and crushed, and
definitely got cursed at while standing in
the pit lane. It is chaos.
This year, I went back, but instead of
drinking with the forest people, I was on
the track—also with the forest people, as it
turned out.
SEPTEMBER 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 67

The newest Aston four-door is
nothing short of marvelous
By George Zicarelli

>

Andy showed me the light in turn 12 of
the 16-turn menace that is the Atlanta Motorsports
Park road course; him as driver, me riding shotgun. In soppy
conditions, the race-seasoned Aston Martin Driving School
instructor masterfully coaxed the brand’s newest luxury GT
through the Eau Rouge of the state of Georgia, a steep uphill
right-left combo with a blind exit, with the ferocious precision
of a bullet train. Impossible, I thought. A four-door shouldn’t
behave this nimbly.
Nor should it look this handsome. Leave it to
the design masters at Aston Martin to confront
Engine: the challenges of four doors and muscular
5.9-litre V12 European pedestrian-safety restrictions, to
Power: craft an automobile that slots effortlessly into
550 hp the long line of Aston Martin classics. When
Transmission: 007 decides to one day call it a career, he’ll
6-speed auto spend his new life as a soccer dad rolling in the
Availability: Rapide S, with little James Jr. strapped inside
now an optional matching Alcantara baby seat.
My faith in the car only grew as I took the
Price:
$210,500 wheel for about 20 of my own spirited laps.

SPECS

72 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

A performance-tuned version of the 5.9 L V12 engine that
first popped up in the Vanquish, along with near symmetrical
front/rear weight distribution and a low centre of gravity, give
the Rapide S astounding performance dynamics. Nothing in its
looks or performance reminds you that it’s a four-door.
Even riding in the back seat of the Rapide S, a
remarkably comfortable and luxurious space with
excellent visibility, seems to defy logic. Andy increases
his speed as he begins another hot lap, me rigid with
fear in the back seat. At any moment now, I expect my
organs to end up on a gurney. But after about a half-dozen
ridiculously exhilarating laps, my internal sensibilities
become sensible again. We stop.
Even though we had spent a full day racing the Aston
Martin Rapide S, it felt just as solid on the last turn as it did on
the first, whether I was driving, riding shotgun or hanging on
for dear life in the back. Nor could patches of mud, grass or
streaks of water dishevel an otherwise stunning automobile.
The Aston Martin Rapide S astounds in design and in
performance. It only takes two miracles for sainthood. Let the
canonization of the Rapide S begin!

® Toronto International Film Festival Inc., used under license. Timberland,

The
Sharp
guide
to
fall
suits

EST. 1973

BEST THEN. BETTER NOW.
#timberland

by Yang-yi Goh

1. Brown Takes the Crown
They’ve been slowly simmering on
the sidelines for the last couple of
years, but there’s no denying it now:
brown suits are having a moment. As
timeless as navy and grey may be, a
rich chestnut two-piece like this one
is just as versatile a base for all manner
of shirt-and-tie permutations, from
plaids to paisleys. The difference is in
the sheer number of head-turns you’ll
generate in the boardroom, at the bar
and everywhere in between. Turns out
brunettes have more fun after all.

7. The Perfect Dress Shirt
This is how your dress shirt should fit in
2013: closely tailored through the arms
and body, with a medium spread collar
that’s not rakishly wide, but not long and
pointy either. It’ll accentuate a tie beautifully, but also be up to task if you leave
the neckwear at home.
Cotton dress shirt ($150) BY Strellson

8. Shooting from the hip

Now that you have a camera in your
pocket at all times, the one you wear
around your neck needs to be just that
much more special. This one, the product
of a collaboration between Leica and the
Dutch denimheads at G-Star Raw, takes
beautiful pictures and HD video. More
importantly, though, it looks badass. $1,300

9. made to measure

A fragrance made for the man with exacting tastes and sophisticated style. With
notes of anis seed and lavender on top,
cinnamon and nutmeg at the core, and
leather and amber on the finish, Gucci
Made To Measure is masculine and will
certainly get noticed, but won’t overwhelm. $105 for 90 ml

Dropping serious money on a suit
from a top men’s fashion house can
be a very satisfying experience, but
if it doesn’t fit properly, you might
as well be wearing something from
your local suit warehouse. Part of the
bespoke experience is not just tailoring the garment to the wearer’s body,
but also to his personality, tastes
and lifestyle. Through an extensive
series of consultations and fittings, you’ll emerge with something
wholly unique and made to your
exact needs and specifications. This
jaunty double-breasted number is cut
from denim-like Oxford cloth spun
by Ariston, makers of some of the
world’s finest fabrics. Substantial and
sturdy, as the suit wears in it will acquire the whiskers and stress creases
of quality denim, lending a relaxed,
broken-in patina quite unlike anything else in your wardrobe. And
because it fits you like a glove, you’ll
want to get all the wear you can out
of it—pairing the jacket with jeans
and wearing the trousers in place of
them. This may be the best suit you’ll
ever own, but it’s really not a suit at
all—it’s so much more than that.

Sure, they’re a bit of an affectation, but sometimes a well-deployed summer scarf is all it takes
to turn a good outfit into a great one.

Circle of Gentlemen

Loud patterns—and especially florals—will remain
very much on-trend next
season. If you’ve got the
moxie, try going all out
with an audacious, in-yourface sportcoat.
Tom Wolfe fans, rejoice: white suits
are back with a vengeance. There’s no
fresher ensemble for summer.

Self-Pitti

What you can learn from the
sartorial sages at Florence’s
notoriously stylish trade show
By Yang-Yi Goh

Whether you call it turquoise, aquamarine or teal, you’ll be seeing this colour everywhere come spring.

It began in the early ’70s as nothing but a simple
industry trade show, a chance for foreign retailers to
survey the very best of Italian fashion. But over the decades—
and, especially since the recent rise of street style photography—Pitti Uomo has evolved into a mecca for male fashionistas. Twice a year, a gaggle of bespoke-clad dandies descend
upon Florence to attend the show, network with like-minded
sartorialists, and with any luck, have their picture taken by
a blogger or two. In many ways, the style-minded gents peacocking about outside have come to overshadow Pitti itself.
These men don’t just work in fashion; they live* it.
While the outfits at Pitti can sometimes toe the line of
outlandishness, they’re more often than not a solid gauge
of coming trends a season or two down the line. We culled
together a few of the best looks from the most recent edition of the show to help give you a sense of what you’ll be
wearing next spring.

80 SHARPFORMEN.COM
2013
LIVE LOVE TASTE/ SEPTEMBER
TOGETHER
INVITE

Styled incorrectly, piping on
your clothing runs the risk of
looking like you’re rocking
daytime PJs. On this perfectly trim blazer, however, it
couldn’t look better.

SHARP: The Book For Men
45 Pages Of
Suits, Shoes, Coats and
Accessories YOu need Now
Plus:
our rules for looking
your absolute best

Kind of
Blue

Six new watches
of a different hue
by Ariel Adams

88 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

>

Blue’s popularity waxes and wanes among the world’s
top watchmakers, and this year it’s back in vogue once again, with some
of our favourite brands offering pieces to match the sky, the sea or your
favourite pinstriped suit. Dive-style watches in blue are perennially popular,
such as Oris’ Aquis diver with its blue ceramic bezel and matching dial, mixed
with a durable steel case. Hermès has also recently released a blue version
of their nautical Clipper, which has a striking blue dial and matching rubber
strap set on a durable steel and titanium case. Almost purely as a celebration
of colour, Rolex recently released six new gold-cased versions of the 36 mm
diameter Day-Date “President” model including a stunning 18k white-gold
version with a blue dial and matching blue alligator strap. This year Omega,
too, released a blue-dialed version of its newer Speedmaster Co-Axial
Chronograph in an all titanium case and bracelet. The limited-edition IWC
Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph Edition Laureus offers a novel take on
that classic piece, while TW Steel’s oversized Pilot makes a statement with a
sunburst blue dial and matching strap.

GUIDE | Fatherhood
pole. He’s trying to get a hold of that wire whipping about in
the dark air. Until he does, I’m not attached to a damn thing.
The giant casinos, more than a quarter of a kilometre below,
are the size of Monopoly hotels. I can block one out with my
thumb. The wind is hitting gale force now and the guy is
bellowing into his headset—the one thing you don’t want to
hear before you leap off the highest building west of the
Mississippi: “Last jump! Last jump! This guy’s our last!”
•••

I’m standing on the edge of the tallest
observation deck in the United States, looking
down on the lights of Las Vegas at night, about to
jump, the wind blowing so hard it’s all I can hear.
If I’m thinking anything, I’m thinking about fear.
My father is scared of heights to the point of terror. When I
was four years old, my parents took me to the Capilano
Suspension Bridge—a rustic swaying walkway 230 feet above a
wide rocky river on the North Shore of Vancouver. My mother
hung back, nursing my baby sister as my dad and I approached
the bridge. Then, suddenly I was running, bolting across the
slick ties and my father had to go out after me—his need to
catch up to his boy battling against his phobia. He finally
reached me in the middle, holding my hand and the railing,
paralyzed with fear. It took a long time for my mother, calling
out from solid land, to bring us back to Earth.
I tended to freak my father out.
And it could be said (though my kind-hearted dad would
never do so) that I’ve done that my whole life. Though I’m
good at taking risks, they haven’t always worked out that
well. Still, I tend to do better in situations of adrenaline
than when left to my own devices… or vices. The point is
that, other than my overwhelming fear of commitment
(which I’d like to avoid for the moment), I’ve never really
been fearful—until I became a dad.
90 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

In many ways, my boy Zev is spectacularly
brave, if not fearless. He climbs and jumps off
anything with apparent faith that either I’ll
catch him or somehow he’ll make the landing.
And he tends to be right. Although cautious in
social situations, once he’s comfortable he’ll
open right up, and he’ll face down kids much
bigger than him—which at three years old is
most of them. And the things that truly scare him, he’s willing
to confront. On the way to the zoo, he told me the animals he
didn’t want to see: “Lions, tigers and really big bears.” But then
we heard a distant roar and his eyes got big. “Is that a lion?” he
said. I picked him up and we walked towards the roar. After
the lion, we saw the tigers, and then the bears.
But clowns are a whole different matter. He’ll spot one a
hundred yards away and, paralyzed with fear, he’ll break
down in panic. For Zevvy, anywhere near a clown is the
middle of the bridge.
•••
I could say that’s what I’m doing here, gripping tight to a
rickety railing 855 feet above a city full of clowns: facing the
fears of my dad and my boy. But, right now, I’ve got my own,
and they’re hitting me like these rare desert winds. And just to
be clear, that’s the “Dad Skill”—facing fears—that I’m trying to
hone in this column and pass onto my son. I do not wish to
teach him to jump off tall buildings.
There’s a guy with a harness, a headset and a long, hooked

This dive off the Las Vegas Stratosphere is called “a controlled free-fall,” an oxymoron of very specific proportions,
worked out to the last scariest inch. You launch out from the
platform with a harness and cables attached to you. Then, at
some point, you start to slow
down. Theoretically it’s possible
to land on your feet. This is the
highest of these jumps anywhere
in the world.
I came up here with four
other journalists and the 2012
Playboy Playmate of the
Year—a giggly media stunt that
got very real halfway up. The
small talk ran out. There was a
moment of quiet, then the
heroes started to mutter: “I’ll
go first,” said the prolific
blogger, at about the same
instant as the successful
freelancer. “What ever
happened,” said the very nice
Playmate, “to ladies first?”
Then the elevator stopped.
The doors opened. And the
Earth was a world below us. And now it was as if you could
taste the fear, start parsing it with your tongue…
And here’s the thing we could all divine: It didn’t matter
who went first. Somehow or other, we’d override our
instincts, and make the leap. We had to for our jobs and our
sense of self. But to be the last—to watch the others jump, the
fear building, then be up here alone—that was a final,
unnecessary terror, and the only way left I could figure out
how to be brave.
“I’ll go last,” I said.

I knew he was the best thing I’d ever do. That doesn’t mean,
though, that committing to other things, or other people,
became any easier. And for the first time I started suffering
from anxiety.
My therapist believes that if I were to let go of one thing
and grab on to the next, I’d be less anxious. Instead it’s like
I’m trying to hold on to the past and the future at the same
time, stretched apart in the present—diving off a cliff, but
still clinging to the edge with my toes. It’s the kind of move
that can lose you everything.
•••
Everyone else has jumped. They’re down there on the
ground. Elated, traumatized, injured, giggling, dead, I have
no idea. Fighting against the
wind makes one moment seem
like a thousand. I try to
breathe. And now finally the
guy has hold of the cable. He’s
off-balance as he turns
towards me, and I towards
him, not holding onto anything.
We get me fastened, he steps
back and now I’m shaking in
the wind on the lip of the
world. As expected, every fibre
of my being and all human
nature tries to stop me from
jumping. But that, of course, is
just instinct. This acutely
engineered fall is probably
safer than driving to the
grocery store. I flex my calves,
curl my toes, taste my fear and
look out at Las Vegas. And before I jump, this is what goes
through my head:
“I should be committed.”

I could say that’s what
I’m doing here, gripping
tight to a rickety railing
855 feet above a city full
of clowns: facing the fears
of my dad and my boy. But,
right now, I’ve got my own,
and they’re hitting me like
these rare desert winds.

•••
According to my therapist, my fear of commitment is
nothing more or less than a fear of death—which somehow
doesn’t make me feel any better.
The truth is, my fear of commitment has been almost
catastrophic. It eroded the relationship with the mother of
my child and has caused great damage to my present
relationship—so much so that I’m not sure I have a present
relationship. Until now, the only thing I’ve ever fully
committed to is my boy.
Becoming a dad was not an accident. Not even close. But
having a child was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever
made. It took me a year to decide, and even then I wasn’t
absolutely sure. But then Zevvy showed up, and right away

•••
Of course, the writer in me would like to let that line echo.
But there are three more things I think I should say:
One full moment after I leapt, the fear turned to pure
elation. The fall felt like flying. I landed on my feet, and I’d
jump again a thousand times. It’s the same as what happened
when I leapt into being a dad. The fall felt like flying, and the
flying felt like falling in love.
When I got back home, I told all this to my girlfriend and
said I was ready to commit. She pointed out that I’d referred to
her as my “ladyfriend” just two columns ago. As of press time
she hasn’t decided if she’ll take me back. It feels like falling
and flying at the same time, with a whole lot of turbulence.
And, finally, just last week, my sister and I took Zevvy to
the fair. He wanted to get his face painted like Batman, but
there was a clown standing next to the booth. “Go on,” I said.
“Batman loves clowns.” My sister let out an ironic laugh and
I realized what I’d said. But Zevvy hadn’t heard me anyway.
He’d darted ahead and was almost at the booth. I got there
just as my brave little boy acknowledged the clown with a
nod. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m not afraid today.”
SEPTEMBER 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 91

L ong Live

Chris Hemsworth has been a teen murder victim and a second-tier superhero. He’s

over. And then, bang, there you are in these lead
roles that had a delayed fuse on them. Suddenly, it
was the year of Hemsworth.
(Laughs) Yeah. I was lucky because as soon as I’d
finished shooting those films, Thor happened. In fact,
I knew about Thor while shooting The Cabin in the
Woods, and so that kind of took my focus. If I had not
worked after those two films and had to sit around
and wait for them to come out, I would’ve been far
more anxious. The anxiety, I think, was more geared
towards these films that I did years ago coming out
now and representing my approach or my ability or
whatever; I’m nervous about what I shot yesterday,
let alone four months, or four years ago, you know?
So if that was the bigger concern about, “God, what if
it’s awful? What if I’m awful in it and I feel like I’ve
learned something since then?”
You felt like you had graduated, but you were worried everyone was going to look at your freshman
high school picture.
There you go (Laughs).
This is the first time you’ve played a historical
person. What stuff did you learn that you knew you
would have to leave out of the film? Truth is stranger
than fiction, but fiction has to be believable. Were
there things about Hunt where you just went, “Love
to get that in the movie, but people won’t buy it”?
I think you get an understanding of his sort of exploits
from the movie without having every scene showing
that. I mean, there was some reference that he’d slept

with 5,000 women or something. We didn’t do that in
the film, but you kind of got the feeling he probably
did, you know, from...
Averaging it out.
(Laughs) Averaging it out. There were things about
his earlier days, and this isn’t in the movie because
there just wasn’t time to show how he struggled to get
into that world, how to become a driver. They had all
sorts of restrictions on cars—this is when he was very
young—and in order to race on the grid, you needed to
have both front seats in the car, and the tire had to be of
a certain grade. So, to pass all those particular things, he
basically assembled this car from parts from all over the
place with a couple hundred bucks. He got a knife and
chiselled tread marks into the tires because they were
bald. And then he had one seat in the front in the car,
so he basically screwed in a garden chair into the front
seat ... And the judges came out on to the test to see if
everyone met the standard, and they said, “No, no, no.
This doesn’t make sense at all. Get off the track.” So he
pulled the keys out, walked off the track, and left his car
there (Laughs). I think that sums him up beautifully but
also gives a great description of where he came from.
But, on the same note, I said to Ron bluntly at one point,
“Is James the villain here? Is he the good guy or the bad
guy? Cause we’re dangerously close to him not being
able to win back the audience.” And Ron said, “You
know, I don’t know. I think that’s what’s interesting.”
So, there was a constant battle. Do we want to love him
or hate him? And I think people have different opinions
about him. In real life, there was such a varied opinion

18 1
Number of
lawn chairs
used as seats
in his early
racing cars

James Hunt
By the Numbers

The fast-driving, hard-partying,
much-womanizing F1 champion was not
one to do anything half-assed. Here’s an
accounting of his exploits.

on what people thought of
him. And I think that was
probably one of the best
things about this story, was
you had two guys that, by
the last race, I don’t know
that there’s a clear audience
sentiment. They both had
won you back in certain
ways and lost you in others.
In the film, there’s the
aspect of the sport and
the challenge and just
the mechanical, physical
beauty of racing. Does the
glory of it all make up for
all of the deaths?
Oh, god. Great question.
Who knows? It reminded
me of when you look at
statistics of racing then and
prior, those were the days
of gladiators. There’s death
for the sake of entertainment and danger. I think
that’s an individual sort of opinion, and I could say,
“No, it’s not worth it for entertainment, and why
are people dying?” And, sure, I feel that way. But, no
one’s forcing anyone to do it, and those guys get out
there and do it. And what becomes more fascinating
is why do they do it? And I think it’s that immediacy

Bottles
of wine
consumed
during his
first BBC
broadcast:

1

Wealthy British Lords who
took Hunt under their wing:

Percentage of Hunt’s wives
who were supermodels:

50%

a sport like that gives you; it forces you to be 100 per
cent in the moment. You can’t think about anything
else. And people, we exist in a world where we’re
constantly thinking in the future and the past, and
to have something where you’re snapped into the
present is what we crave. Always.

Have
Fun
Being
Smart
Global exclusive: the Toronto international
launch of the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class—
the world’s most intelligent car
By Coleman Molnar

Every morning, as I headed
off to grade school, my
father would tell me to
“have fun being smart.” It
took many years of having
fun being stupid to realize
the wisdom in these words.
Smart can be fun.
The minds behind the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class certainly understand
this. Cruising about in the all-new flagship executive sedan from Benz is fun.
Intimidating, too. Not because of the price tag, which starts at $106,600, nor
its impressive size or its beautiful features like the 10 Burmester speakers that
punctuate the interior. No, what intimidates me is the fact that this car is likely
much smarter than I am.
106 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

SEPTEMBER 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 107

110
SHARPFORMEN.COM

tEST
DRIVE
With autumn upon us, we took eight of the season’s
defining runway looks out for a spin
By Yang-Yi Goh Photographer: Liam Goslett Stylist: Lee Sullivan for Plutino Group

Ermenegildo
Zegna
This fall marks a transitional
period for Zegna. It’s the last
season before hotly anticipated new recruit Stefano
Pilati takes the reins as head
of design. But the stalwart
Italian label hardly mailed it
in for the handover—in fact,
the house’s favoured mix
of classic tailoring and progressive textiles has never
looked better. Tonal grey
wools accentuate gracefully
draped topcoats and knits
tinged with traces of techy
modernism. Come spring,
Pilati had better bring his
A-game; this is one tough
act to follow.
Cashmere coat (price upon request), wool-silk
blend zip-up sweater (price upon request),
cotton dress shirt ($435), cashmere pants
(price upon request) and leather gloves ($505)
by Ermenegildo Zegna; leather shoes ($250)
by Z Zegna.

By Yang-Yi Goh • Photography by Liam Mogan

120 SHARPFORMEN.COM / SEPTEMBER 2013

SHAR P FORME N . C OM
120

Arc’teryx Veilance

Field Jacket

Just about every menswear label has taken on the classic M-65 field jacket at some point. But
nobody’s done it quite like the performance-driven aesthetes at Arc’teryx Veilance, who transformed
the rugged military icon into a stripped-down confluence of clean lines, taped seams and windproof
insulation. Consider it the Range Rover to its predecessor’s Jeep: still functional and utilitarian, but in
a sleeker, more sophisticated package. $995